Among people in the later stages of kidney disease, both black men and women were less likely than white men and women to have their blood pressure under control.

High blood pressure can worsen kidney disease, and some research suggests that controlling hypertension may play a major role in slowing progression of kidney disease, according to background information in the study, which looked at more than 10,000 people with kidney disease and hypertension.

"African-Americans with [kidney disease] progress more quickly to kidney failure, at which point they must receive a kidney transplant or regular dialysis to survive," study author Dr. O. Kenrik Duru, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a prepared statement.

"These findings suggest that their higher risk of kidney failure may stem, at least in part, from higher rates of uncontrolled high blood pressure," Duru said.

The study appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

About 26 million Americans have kidney disease. People at increased risk for kidney disease include minorities, older adults and those with diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and a family history of kidney disease. Research has shown that blacks with kidney disease progress five times faster to kidney failure than whites with kidney disease.

"These findings propose new opportunities to eliminate health disparities in people most vulnerable to [kidney disease]," study co-author Dr. Allan J. Collins, president of the National Kidney Foundation, said in a prepared statement. "Treating high blood pressure aggressively in people with [kidney disease] could protect thousands -- if not millions -- of people from life-threatening complications of kidney failure."

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about chronic kidney disease.

SOURCE: National Kidney Foundation, news release, Feb. 1, 2008

-- Robert Preidt